


Hearts With Shaky Foundations

by foldingcranes



Series: All These Things I've Done [14]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Body Horror, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Consensual Choking, Enemies to Lovers, Getting Back Together, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Injury Recovery, M/M, Past Character Death, Post-Fall of Overwatch, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Reaper76 Big Bang 2018, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-20 08:33:01
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15530313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foldingcranes/pseuds/foldingcranes
Summary: “Give me a reason to trust you,” Gabriel growled, eyes narrowed with suspicion. Jack pushed the glass of water into his hand, then settled the bowl of soup on the bedside table.“Just drink the water, you goddamn basket case.”(In which Reaper gets injured, Soldier Seventy-Six takes care of him and Feelings are a disease that should have a cure by now.)[Written for theReaper76 Big Bang.]





	Hearts With Shaky Foundations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TacticalBooty (SenoraKitty)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SenoraKitty/gifts), [lifliflifr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lifliflifr/gifts).



> I still can’t believe it took me almost an entire semester to write this fic, but here we are!
> 
> I need to thank:  
> \- [Segadores-y-Soldados](https://archiveofourown.org/users/clickclickBANG/pseuds/clickclickBANG) for letting me bounce ideas at him and helping me with my plot.  
> \- [Crookedfingers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedfingers) for encouraging me and basically telling me to just Do It.  
> \- [Stuffy_J](http://archiveofourown.org/users/stuffy_j/works) for being the best writing buddy, beta reader and cheerleader anyone could have.  
> \- [Liripip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liripip) for their EXCELLENT beta reading powers, as always.  
> \- [Deerna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/deerna) and [Theoroark](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theoroark) for also reading this monster and listening to me.
> 
> And, of course, my artists: [tacticalbuttcheeks](https://tacticl-booty.tumblr.com/) and [Fish](https://fishlimbed.tumblr.com/), who’s beautiful art you’ll find in this story and in their respective art posts. It was a pleasure to work with you both and I feel extremely lucky and grateful for having your art in my fic!!!

_Do not make_  
_homes_  
_out of people._  
_This will leave you_  
_homesick_  
_and sad,_  
_missing arms that_  
_cannot hold_  
_roofs,_  
_hearts with_ _  
_ shaky foundations

— Michelle K, _Home_.

 

Federico Reyes picked the hottest day of the summer to teach Jack how to golf. Or, at least, that’s how Jack felt at that moment, glaring at the unforgiving shine of the sun. Sweat clung to his forehead and the back of his neck, dripping onto his polo shirt. He was pretty sure there were sweat stains under his armpits, to his complete embarrassment. He took comfort in knowing he wasn’t the only one: sitting on the golf cart and chugging some beer, Gabriel had been trying to fan himself for the past forty-five minutes, too hot to even attempt to be sassy about Jack’s poor golfing skills anymore.

“Jack,” his father-in-law snapped him back to attention by handing him another golf club. “We’re not leaving here until we make a golfer out of you. I know you’ve got it in you, son.”

“C’mon, old man,” Gabriel whined behind them. “You’re just projecting because Jorge and I never cared for golf. Release Jackie so we can go eat dinner? And enjoy some AC, please?”

“I don’t care about you and your brother not liking golf, Gabo,” Jack watched, amused, as his father-in-law threw an exasperated glance in his son’s direction, raising his arms in a gesture of impatience not so unlike Gabriel. “I care about teaching you about patience, a lesson you never learned properly. Unlike you, Jack still has a chance at learning it.”

“Hey!” Gabriel complained petulantly, crossing his arms and slumping in his seat. Jack bit back his laughter, not wanting him to throw a complete temper tantrum. He went back to addressing Federico’s thoughtful lessons, feeling, once again, utterly lost. He didn’t hold a lot of hope for himself in regards to golf but he had to admit there was a…soothing quality to it, something Jack had never felt in any other sport. There was a certain serenity to golf that Jack didn’t mind. It quieted the white noise in his head and stopped him from constantly bouncing his knee or picking at his lips.

“Fede,” Jack said, a little unsure. His father-in-law was too busy grumbling calculations under his breath. “Why are you so insistent about teaching me how to golf?”

That made Federico stop, taking a thoughtful pause for himself. He put a hand on Jack’s shoulder and looked up to him, being so much shorter than him and Gabe. The vastness of the green fields that surrounded them made Jack feel as if they were living in a bubble, away from all human contact, completely separated from the rest of Los Angeles.

“It’s not only about patience, son,” Federico admitted. “You’re a different kind of commander than Gabo now. _You’re a politician_.”

Jack nodded, wanting to speak before allowing him to continue. “Fede”, he said, “I know I’m not really fit for the job, but Gabe recommended me and I’m not sure I’m ready but I just— I want to do right by him. By everyone. Without feeling like an imposter.”

“Nonsense! Jack, Gabo led us through a war, you’re going to lead us through peace. It’s not the same thing,” Federico explained, patiently. He always had an infinite amount of patience for Jack, something that amused Gabriel greatly. (“My father likes you more than me because you’re an old man at heart, Jackie.”)

“You’re going to have to negotiate. You’re going to submit yourself to people’s goodwill and to their demands and petty wishes. You’ll have to surrender parts of yourself and trade favors with people you won’t always like. And I’m,” Federico stopped, hesitant. Then, he let out a small exhalation. “Worried about you, son. You’re… you have a very kind heart.”

Jack wrinkled his nose. “Do I?”

Federico laughed at that. Gabriel had gone silent, pretending not to hear them. Watching as the sun started to set beyond the green.

“You do, son. And that can be both a great strength and a debilitating weakness. People will see through you, people will want things from you and they’ll— _see._ ”

“What?” Jack asked, confusion etched on his brow. A sense of foreboding squeezed around his heart, and he felt his chest go heavy, like a stone. “What will they see?”

“That you’re… soft.”

Jack blinked a couple of times, grabbing his chest and feeling heavy. When he looked down at himself, he wasn’t wearing khaki pants or a ridiculous polo shirt: he was in his Strike Commander uniform, armor battered and scratched, melted in places. The air grew heavy and he could barely see around him. His face was throbbing with pain, the kind that stung and made his eyes water and his teeth grit. He was burning up and there was nothing but red.

Suddenly, he was on his knees, the flames of the fire taunting him, smoke covering the sky. “Gabriel?” was the first word on his lips, out of instinct. Out of habit. Out of a lifetime of calling his partner’s name whenever he felt scared and lost. “Gabe?”

The flames licked at him, smoke slowly choking him. He couldn’t get up, a sharp pain in his left hip and leg preventing him from trying to stand. Jack dragged himself across the floor, always forward, heart thumping wildly in his ears. He could almost see it, he could almost see him, there in the distance, slumped over the wreckage, back resting against the remains of a wall, a piece of rebar piercing his shoulder and another one stabbing his stomach: Gabriel, bloody and wounded, still breathing.

“Gabe,” Jack stopped in front of him, feeling dumbly disconnected from himself. He raised his head to face Gabriel, telling himself that Gabriel would be okay, that they would be okay. “Everything’s going to be okay,” the same lie Jack had been telling himself for the last long, tedious, painful years.

“Oh, Jackie,” Gabriel sighed, head hung low. Then, his whole form started shaking and horrified, Jack realized that he was laughing. Gabriel was laughing. Laughing at him.

“Oh, Jackie,” Gabriel repeated, snarling, eyes angry and dark, his lower jaw slowly detaching itself from his face, a silent scream stuck in Jack’s raw throat as he watched in horror. “You were always so fucking soft.”

Gabriel’s jaw fell to the ground, leaving behind a mess of gore and blood—

Jack woke up with a scream. His chest burned with how hard his heart was beating and his hair laid plastered to his forehead in a sticky, sweaty mess, just like his mattress and the back of his shirt. The cabin he was living in was small and creaky, located just at the outskirts of the town, so he doubted anyone had heard him shout in the middle of the night. He untangled himself from the soaked sheets, lowering his feet on the ground so he could sit on the edge of the bed, resting his elbows on his knees. Jack grabbed his head, letting it hang low, staring at the floor in an attempt to ground himself to reality and shake off the unpleasantness of the nightmare. Once he calmed down, once it felt like his ribs wouldn’t fall, crushed into dust before the strength of his heartbeat, he grabbed the flask of 120 proof _aguardiente_ he kept inside the crate next to his cot and drank a big, long gulp in one go.

God, he was a big fucking mess. The burn of the alcohol in his throat managed to soothe him enough to calm him down, but Jack’s hands hadn’t stopped shaking. He was useless like this, so he gulped down the rest of the flask and closed his eyes real tight. Ana would be disappointed the next time she saw him. She had been begging Jack to tone down the drinking and to care for himself properly but there was no use. It was in Jack’s blood and not even the SEP had managed to erase from him the seed of addiction. No day could start without Jack downing an entire bottle of whiskey, he needed it to trick his body into a state of peace after the heavy nightmares and to steady his hands before holding his pulse rifle.

Now properly relaxed (or, as relaxed as he could be) Jack took a look out of the window. One of the most beautiful things about La Paz was how full of stars the sky was: it was just this heavy, dark mantle littered with brilliant, glittering dots. The first time Jack saw this sight, he and Gabriel had been still young and the first Omnic Crisis had been over for barely a month. They had stayed at a cabin in the mountains, very similar to the one Jack had been residing in since his arrival to Coroico. Jack had still loved hiking, camping, and outdoorsy activities. Gabriel hadn’t been a fan of camping, but they had compromised by renting the cabins. He had good memories of their time there.

The corners of his lips twitched upwards. It was nice, Jack thought, starting the day with a nice memory. If he kept that line of thought maybe he’d be able to stop thinking about his nightmare. If he focused hard enough on better times, maybe he’d be able to feel less lonely. That way, the kids would ask fewer questions.

Right, the kids. Lúcio and Hana. Jack groaned, dragging a hand through his sweaty hair, then finally leaving his cot, thinking of getting a pot of shitty coffee started. He stopped by the bathroom to wash his face, then glared at his own reflection: tired, bruised eyes and a full beard which helped him to distract people and kept them from recognizing him as Jack Morrison. The misshapen scars crossing his nose and mouth. The wrinkles. The hair standing in a thousand different directions.

Jack scoffed. As poor as his eyesight was now if he squinted hard enough, he still could see how much he looked like a train had run him over, a look he had only perfected after Ana and he had temporarily parted ways. The only thing he had done after that mission in Cairo had been lose weight and drink booze and stale coffee. Not the ideal diet for a super soldier.

This way, he looked like a completely different person. Hell, he was even cooperating with a mysterious hacker who had given him information about Talon’s operations in Coroico and had promised him more data in exchange for retrieving intel. Added to that, he was surprised when Ana had told him Overwatch had requested his assistance. And he was even more surprised when he was informed that two agents would be sent to work by his side. When Winston had delivered the news, Jack had prayed silently behind his mask, anxious over having to work alongside someone from his past. Anxious over being exposed and having to deliver explanations. He pictured everything: from Angela’s rightful indignation to Reinhardt’s silent tears.

Thankfully, the newly formed Overwatch had sent new agents. Hana and Lúcio would stop by his cabin at any moment, so the sooner Jack pulled himself together, the better. He didn’t have the energy to socialize so early in the morning, eyes as blurry as always as he turned on the lights to step into the shower. His thoughts went back to the new Overwatch and he found himself instantly frowning. They were recruiting kids, now?

 _Now, don’t be so pedantic_ , Gabriel’s voice laughed in his head. _Didn’t you join the army when you were eighteen? Weren’t you the youngest soldier in the SEP? The baby of the Strike Team?_

Jack sighed, resting his forehead against the tiles on the shower wall, cold water running down his body. He wasn’t a leader anymore. He wasn’t wearing the blue duster and the medals. Hell, he wasn’t even Jack Morrison anymore. He was just an old, ridiculous fool running around in search for answers. The best he could do was to assist these kids— _agents_ as unobtrusively as possible and get the intel for the hacker. For Sombra.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts as he was exiting the bathroom. He quickly got dressed. He didn’t bother to put on his visor and mask since Hana and Lúcio had seen his face when they met with him a few days ago. He went to open the door and sure enough, they were standing there, carrying… a basket of eggs.

 

 

[X](https://i.imgur.com/x5iH4DP.png)

“Good morning, Seventy-Six!” Lúcio smiled. “Miss Gloria, from the bodega, sends these. She says she wanted to repay you for fixing her roof.”

“Oh,” Jack said, a little awkwardly. He received the basket from Lúcio’s hands under Hana’s bored look. She was chewing pink bubblegum and didn’t look too happy to be awake at that time of the day.

 _Same hat_ , Jack thought. “Sit down. I’ll make breakfast.”

Lúcio and Hana exchanged surprised looks and then took their seats at the table. “Wow,” Lúcio said. “Thanks, that’s… nice of you.”

Jack let them chatter at the table as he made scrambled eggs and served the coffee. When he was done, he put everything on the table in front of Lúcio and Hana’s owlish eyes. He nodded then, inviting them to dig in and soon enough, they were eating everything he had put in front of them. It made Jack feel nostalgic. The meals he had with his aunts back at the farm. Those times he fed the entire Strike Team. Cooking for Gabe and having people over for dinner.

“Uh,” Hana said, mouth full of bread and scrambled eggs. “Not bad for an old man, old man.”

“Hana!” Lúcio chided her. He elbowed her over the table and she laughed, cheeks going pink. It made Lúcio smile for a brief instant before he seemed to remember he was about to chastise her. It was cute, in a young love sort of way.

(It made Jack feel achingly lonely.)

“Okay,” Jack interrupted. “What’s our status report?”

“We’ve been doing our research,” Lúcio quickly went back to speaking with a serious voice, looking completely focused in a matter of seconds. “Vishkar will build a luxury tourist complex aimed at researchers and will hide a secret facility where Talon will be performing experiments. They’re going to tear down the old watchpoint and go from there, then transport cargo from Brazil to this town while everyone celebrates the local carnival.”

“The rebels have been denying entry to anyone linked to Vishkar from entering the town,” Hana followed. “They have been trying to block construction as much as possible, to slow down the process, but,” she frowned and pursed her lips. “What little construction work has been done has poisoned the water. And too many people are starting to fall sick, so they have been weakened. They have less fighters now.”

Jack nodded approvingly. The agents had done their research and gathered their intel properly. “Now, Lúcio. What’s your call?”

Lúcio stammered, surprised. “M-My call?”

“You’re leading this mission.”

“Right,” Lúcio coughed, running a hand down his hair. Hana smirked, hiding a laugh. “Look, the water being poisoned is not a coincidence. Not only have a lot of civilians have fallen sick, but it has also decimated the resistance and its resources. We need to be prepared for an ambu—”

The sound of alarms, followed by shooting cut them short, immediately making everyone stand up. Lucio held his sound gun in one hand, adjusting it quickly, and Jack could see Hana inside the cockpit of her MEKA, going through the startup process. The commotion came from the _plaza de armas_ , the center of the city, where a small group of rebels tried to fight back against a bunch of Talon goons.

Hana immediately went to shield the rebels with her MEKA, while Lúcio went to assist the people on the frontlines. Jack moved with the intention of following him, but a shadow called to him from the corner of his eye and, when he turned, he found himself being face to face against the Reaper.

“Fuck me,” Jack cursed behind his mask. Reaper tilted his head, looking almost like an owl. Then, he raised his shotguns, aiming at Jack.

“Not today, Jack.”

Reaper shot at him. Jack narrowly avoided it by throwing himself at the ground. He quickly adopted a crouching position and fired a helix rocket near Reaper’s feet, then used the smoke to get closer to him and disarm him by hitting him on the head with the butt of his pulse rifle. Enraged, Reaper lunged for him, tackling Jack to the ground. They struggled for the upper hand, throwing punches at each other and rolling around.

Jack had managed to get on top, punching Reaper’s mask again and again until it fell, an ugly mix of conflicting emotions coursing through his veins the moment Jack was able to see Gabriel’s scarred face, paralyzing him as shock set in. Reaper took advantage of that brief moment and rolled with him on top, pushing Jack far away from him. Jack saw Reaper's eyes widen suddenly, and a shot rang in the air, making Jack's blood run cold. When he turned back to Reaper, he saw him bleeding, dark red pooling around one of his legs.

There was a buzzing in Jack's ears that drowned out all other noise as if the whole town had suddenly fallen silent.

Jack felt his body turn on autopilot. This was Gabriel before him, bleeding on the battlefield, and it was his responsibility to help him. Jack got back on his feet and, without any hesitation, walked to Reaper and picked him up.

 

*****

 

“This is it?” He entered Jack’s office at the end of the day when office hours were long over and the last agents on base were going home. Jack was there, just like Gabriel knew he’d be. His back was facing the door, eyes fixed on the window. Shoulders slumped and hands behind his back, Jack didn’t even flinch at the sound of Gabriel dropping a giant folder on top of his desk.

“This,” Gabriel snarled, not bothering to cross to the other side of the room, letting Jack’s desk exist between them like a metaphorical chasm. “I’ve been enslaving myself for months, digging further and further into this conspiracy, trying my fucking best to get rid of this… this _cancer_ that’s been destroying our lives. And you’re giving up? Now?”

“Gabriel,” Jack rasped, voice hoarse from a lack of use. The office was too dark for Gabriel to be able to see his face properly, but he could see the outline of Jack’s profile under the moonlight. “I’ve been trying to tell you over and over again. There’s nothing else we can do. It’s over.”

“Bullshit.”

“Overwatch’s getting disbanded,” Jack went back to looking out of the window, his posture now stiffer. “I’m facing trial in a few weeks. My lawyer says that… there’s hope for me, to avoid actual jail time. Maybe. We don’t know yet,” he stopped, resting his forehead on his hand, pinching the bridge of his nose. “I’m tired, Gabe. I want… I mean, once everything is wrapped up, we could give it another shot… move to California, live closer to your parents. We could give it another shot.” Finally, Jack turned towards him, a nervous smile on his face, eyes expectant, waiting for Gabriel to reply. Waiting for Gabriel to give him what he wanted.

Gabriel clenched his fists so hard his knuckles hurt. “Are you seriously giving up? Are you really expecting me to just keel over and roll over for Talon?”

“Gabe, please,” Jack begged. “Please, just— let’s go home.”

“This is our fucking home, Jack!”

“You know what I mean!” Jack hissed, face flushed with anger, smile long forgotten. “What else are we supposed to do? It’s over, Gabe! Overwatch, Blackwatch. Everything. And you know what? Good.” Jack said, snarling. He crossed his arms, eyes flashing with anger, looking more defeated than ever. “I’m tired. I’m done. I think I’ve earned my break.”

Then, Jack deflated, reaching for him, fingers curling around Gabriel’s bicep. And Gabriel knew, he just… fucking knew what Jack was going to say. His heart beat faster with anticipation and his whole body went cold.

“Gabe, not everything is lost yet, as I said… we could just… we could try again. I still have your ring. We love each other, we could leave this whole mess behind.”

Inhaling sharply, Gabriel closed his eyes, if only to avoid seeing Jack’s hopeful face. The simmering anger that seemed to never let go of him took hold of his mind again, threatening to swallow him. There was a part of him that knew that what Jack was asking was part of something Gabriel himself had promised long ago. But he couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t accept this surrender. He couldn’t accept this defeat.

Talon was shitting on everything he and Jack had built together and Jack had given up. _He had given up_.

Gabriel took a long, sharp breath.

“No,” he said, firmly, a single word: cutting and final. “You may be done but I’m not. Unlike you, I won’t rest until Talon has turned into ashes, Jack. And that’s final.”

“Gabe,” Jack called out to him, panicked, fingers tightening his grip on Gabriel’s arm. He snatched his arm away, watched as Jack fumbled with what to do and say. “Please. Please, don’t go where I can’t follow. I need you.”

“You promised once,” he said, very slowly. “To follow me to hell and back. And now you’re breaking that promise.”

Jack stayed silent, lips pursed, face hard as stone. Gabriel lowered his head and grit his teeth. He was so— so _angry._

“We’re done here.”

“That’s it?” Jack broke the silence that followed. “You— _you left me_ , months ago, because you said you were afraid of us poisoning each other and now you just— you just ditch what’s left of us because you want, what? Retribution? Revenge?”

Incredulous, Gabriel tried not to slam his hands on Jack’s desk. “Gérard and Ana are dead, Jack. One’s on me,”

“Gérard wasn’t your fault, Gabe.”

“And Ana is on _you_.”

Jack’s eyes glistened and, there was— there was grief in Gabriel, so huge and heavy it threatened to squash him as if he carried a huge boulder on his back. Like Atlas, precariously balancing the world on top of his shoulders. That’s how Gabriel felt, after so many losses. After so much grief and defeat, and the foundations of their lives crumbling before his very own eyes.

“You owe me this, Jack. You owe Ana this. You owe the whole world this. Help me destroy Talon,” Gabriel pleaded.

“You’re mad,” voice as hard as steel, Jack dragged a hand down his face. “I’m done. I’m done covering for you. I’m not following you down this path. I have my hands full with taking responsibility for everything we’ve done. You’re on your own, Gabriel.”

Gabriel never went back to him. He only looked forward. He’d pause his step to contemplate the memory of their beloved friends and then move on and continue to do justice in their names. No man left behind.

No man left behind.

Hurt and disappointed, he turned his back on Jack.

“Gabriel?”

No man left behind.

“Goodbye, Jack.”

 

**

 

Reaper slept.

There was a wave of buzzing anger under his skin every time he woke up and fell into slumber again. Over and over again until gentle hands would soothe him, softly touching his temple and his cheeks, wiping away sweat and the heat that stuck to the body during a fever.

 _It’s okay_ , a voice far away seemed to tell him. _It’s okay, go back to sleep_ , _you’ll be okay_.

And with nothing else to lose, Reaper closed his eyes again and dreamed.

 

 

[X](https://i.imgur.com/n7yMeTy.png)

 

**

 

Gabriel woke up feeling a restlessness tied to the frustration over memories that were quick to vanish. His head was throbbing with pain and something cold and soft rested on his forehead. A wet cloth, Gabriel soon realized as he became more and more aware of his surroundings, opening his eyes slowly to the poorly lit room. He tried to sit up but failed the moment he attempted to raise his torso and get his legs off of the bed, quickly shot down by a spike of pain in his knee. Cursing softly, Gabriel looked at the bottom part of his body only to find his right leg resting on top of a bunch of pillows and blankets, correctly elevated so his knee didn’t bend. He tried to focus, thoughts foggy as if he was coming out of the effects of anesthesia, and with some effort managed to recall the last thing he remembered: a sniper shot, his body moving before he could think about his decision, shielding Jack with his body and, finally, a piercing pain in his knee followed by nothingness.

That’s when Gabriel noticed Jack’s white head resting on the bed. He was sitting on the floor, slumping over the edge of the bed, his head laying next to Gabriel’s good knee. Jack had a frowning expression on his face even as he slept, arms crossed and lips pursed. He had fallen asleep while watching over Gabriel.

Swallowing the impulse to run his hand through Jack’s hair, to soothe him like in the good old times, was harder than Gabriel imagined. _Don’t be a fucking dumbass_ , he sighed, head and knee still throbbing with pain, body sore. He still didn’t know how long had passed since he was shot or what had crossed over his mind when he had made the stupid decision to tackle Jack to the ground and take a shot for him when they weren’t like _that_ anymore.

They weren’t anything anymore. Just an echo of something that used to be good. Because they were good, at some point. They had the kind of story that made people cry at the movies or at the end of a long, tortuous novel. Before Talon. Before the world grew too big. Before his body began to crash and Jack’s mind withered, what they had had been bigger than them. It had been the love of a lifetime. A fucking Hallmark movie with more bullets.

Gabriel took one more look at Jack before deciding to wake him up by nudging him with his thigh, his need for answers bigger than Jack’s comfort.

“Hey,” Gabriel rasped with annoyance. “Hey! C’mon, time to rejoin the world of the living.”

In response, Jack snored louder than before, sounding more and more like a wrecked tractor. What a piece of shit, really. After a few more attempts, Gabriel gave up trying, closing his eyes once again as he surrendered to the pain coming from his knee.

Just five minutes, he thought. Five more minutes, he tricked himself. With his eyes closed and the fever dragging him back to unawareness, the cabin morphed into a sterile medbay and Jack’s white tuft of hair became golden again.

Lost to long forgotten memories, Gabriel slept once again.

(Someone kept petting his hair. Holding his hand. Someone kept measuring his heartbeats, fingers spread out over his chest. Warm lips touched his forehead, at some point. Real or not real?)

 

**

 

 

Gabriel woke up with an annoying sense of Deja vú at the surface of his mind. He roughly rubbed at his eyes, lashes crusty with sleep. His brain felt stuffed with cotton and his mouth was so dry that he knew the moment he dared to speak, it would hurt. But never as much as his knee, which, as Gabriel looked down and discovered, was currently being held high— _ah, yes_. Now he remembered.

A scarce ray of sunlight filtered through the ratty curtains, pitifully illuminating the room. The cabin smelled like garlic, chicken, and carrots. The sounds of water boiling and the clinking of cooking utensils were the only things disrupting the peace and making it clear to Gabriel that he wasn’t alone. Jack was there, pattering on the wooden floor somewhere, cooking and making things feel so bizarrely domestic that Gabriel had to bite back the desire to laugh at the absurdity of the whole situation. They hadn’t seen each other since the incident back at Cairo and now Gabriel was bedridden and captive, Jack’s prisoner. It was making his blood boil with anger and the desire to just turn himself into smoke and escape as fast as possible.

Sadly, every time he tried, excruciating pain in the back of his head stopped him. That’s how Gabriel knew that his nanites were disabled, temporarily. He felt uneasy as he thought about how long it was taking for his body to heal.

“Fuck me, I guess,” he muttered softly, throat achy and dry, only to be interrupted by Jack’s footsteps and his following presence as he entered the room. His hair was messy, strands sticking out everywhere, and he wasn’t wearing his leather jacket or his gloves, just a tight shirt of under armor and pants. In his hands, Jack carried a bowl of soup and a glass of water. At seeing Gabriel awake, he just lifted an eyebrow. Jack set the things on the bedside table and tried to shove the glass of water into Gabriel’s hand.

“Someone is in a mood,” Jack said, face unreadable. Thick scars crossed Jack’s face, Gabriel noticed. Jack had done a very poor job at taking care of them but, then again, he had never been as vain as people tended to think of him. At seeing him getting closer, Gabriel rose to a sitting position, glaring and keeping himself alert as Jack offered him the glass of water again. “You were shot pretty bad. I patched you up, but you had a fever,” Jack explained.

Gabriel still didn’t want to accept that glass of water.

Jack rolled his eyes, apparently reading the mistrust in Gabriel’s posture. “Just do yourself a favor and drink the fucking water, Gabe. I didn’t poison it, if that’s what your paranoid ass is thinking right now.”

“Give me a reason to trust you,” Gabriel growled, eyes narrowed with suspicion. Jack pushed the glass of water into his hand, then settled the bowl of soup on the bedside table.

“Just drink the water, you goddamn basket case.”

“Look, what am I supposed to think? I shot you in the back, months ago. Excuse me if I don’t buy your good Samaritan vibes.”

Unexpectedly, Jack slapped the bowl of soup across the room, making a mess in front of the bed. He was frowning, cheeks reddened and chest rising with anger. Gabriel felt pleased in the face of his anger, wanting to draw it out further. Waiting for Jack to reveal himself and whatever scheme he had plotted.

“If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead already. Not in bed and patched up,” Jack spat, clearly frustrated. “You’re just the same as always. Suspicious as fuck and an ungrateful jerk, to make it even better.”

Gabriel stayed stubbornly silent, and only drank a sip of water when Jack angrily stomped out of the room.

His knee should have healed already. Every time he tried to stand, the pain in his knee stopped him, and his nanites made a fuss. His body ran hotter than normal, the energy within making him uneasy and uncomfortable. Gabriel knew that his wound was being knitted and pulled back together but the slow pace of his healing was unusual and worrisome. On top of that, he was getting hungry and when he tried to get to the kitchen earlier, he had failed spectacularly. He almost regretted making Jack mad. That soup of his had smelled good.  
  
Speaking of the devil. As he heard footsteps again, he sat on the bed and reached for one of his shotguns—only to discover that they weren’t there. That’s when he realized that his usual gear and weapons were nowhere in sight, and he cursed Jack’s name loudly.  
  
“You called?” Jack showed soon enough, leaning on the doorframe. He had his visor on now, but his mask off, and Gabriel could only see his beard and chapped lips. He was holding a bottle in one of his hands and Gabriel didn’t get a chance to ask about it before Jack brought it to his lips and drank. And drank. _And drank_.  
  
Holy fucking shit.  
  
“Did you just drink almost an entire bottle of _aguardiente_ in one gulp?” Gabriel asked. He saw Jack shrug and then clean his lips with the cuff of his jacket.  
  
“Maybe,” Jack answered, nonchalant. “Didn’t check the bottle first.”  
  
“What the fuck?” Angrily, Gabriel tried to leave the bed only to fall back into a sitting position as soon as his knee failed him again. “Put that shit down right now.”  
  
“Who do you think you are?” Jack scoffed, taking another long drink from the bottle. “You can’t tell me what to do!”  
  
“Last time I checked you were a widower, not a divorcee.”  
  
An uncomfortable pause settled over the room. Gabriel swallowed hard and tried to find a way to explain himself. “Because I died and you know—”  
  
“I know,” Jack sighed, running a hand down his face. “I know, look. I’m just gonna…”  
  
He pointed at the door, probably in direction to the kitchen and then left the room. Gabriel stayed in silence, still trying to understand what went over in their previous conversation until Jack came back again, moments later, with a steaming bowl of soup.  
  
“I don’t like onions,” Gabriel sniffed, refusing to look at the bowl of soup. Refusing to acknowledge the meaning behind it.  
  
“I know,” Jack repeated. He sounded less angry than earlier, but the visible part of his face was flushed red and his speech was slightly slurred so it was obvious that he was pretty wasted. “But they’re good for you. And you’re not leaving this cabin until you heal completely.”  
  
Gabriel’s ached at the familiarity of those words. He started eating only when Jack fell asleep while sitting in the only chair in the room, wondering why he had taken that shot for Jack in the first place.

 

**

 

The sun started to set, coloring the Bolivian sky in a bright, beautiful orange behind the mighty mountains of the Andes. The cabin had a perfect view of Watchpoint La Paz, which once stood tall and proud, buzzing with as much life as the Overwatch agents that inhabited it and worked there. The man Gabriel used to be used to feel proud about all of this. Used to feel proud of how the empire he and Jack had built had branched out all over the world, inspiring a new generation of people who wanted to work for peace and rebuilding what had been so violently destroyed during the Omnic crisis.

Now, Overwatch was nothing more than dust. And Blackwatch, a name that no one dared to speak anymore.

“Why are you here?” Jack stood in a corner of the room, watching Gabriel like a hawk. He had brought Gabriel food again: a glass of passion fruit juice and a juicy salteña, which consisted of a sweet pastry filled with meat, potatoes, and other vegetables. It had been a better meal than the soup he had fed Gabriel in the morning.

“You first,” Gabriel had grumbled, trying to look intimidating. His nanites still weren’t working properly, he still wasn’t able to get up and he definitely had no idea where Jack had stashed his shotguns, which was making him increasingly uncomfortable and mad. He hadn’t been this vulnerable in years.

“Fine,” Jack muttered, making it clear that he wasn’t happy with Gabriel’s attitude. Good. “I have a contact, you see. Some… hacker. She told me to come here and recover some intel I’ve been looking for. The new Overwatch asked me to assist two of their agents on a mission here, anyway, so I took the chance.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Gabriel groaned, slapping his own face. At Jack’s visible frown, Gabriel knew that it wasn’t any trap on his part. “I’m here for Sombra too. We work together at Talon.”

Jack’s eyebrows were high up in his forehead. “So, she’s with Talon.”

“It’s not that simple!”

“Then she’s like you.”

Gabriel blinked, confused. “What do you mean?”

Jack crossed his arms, visibly tense. “Why are you with Talon?”

“Jack…” He warned. Smoke poured out of him in his anger, but Jack didn’t recoil. He wasn’t intimidated. Gabriel hadn’t been able to see his face in all his time in the cabin, but Jack hadn’t had really intense negative reactions so far. He just looked tired and didn’t seem to blink twice at Gabriel’s red eyes and most recent scars.

“Reaper was…” Jack sighed, slouching. “I had my suspicions about Reaper for a long time since you confessed to me that you had these… abilities that the SEP gave you. Since you told me how much you used them in Blackwatch missions. So, a part of me had been wondering…”

Gabriel stared expectantly. Jack didn’t dare continue.

“Fine. Reaper got shit done at Blackwatch, shit I wouldn’t have been able to achieve as myself. As Commander Reyes,” he admitted. “And Reaper is getting shit done now. I’m going to tear down Talon from the inside, Jack. Just like I told you I would.”

“Yeah,” Jack said, voice flat. “Just like you told me.”

 

**

 

“You lied to me.”

“Yeah,” Gabriel tiredly admitted. His knee was less sore than the previous day and soon he’d be able to walk away from the damned cabin and Jack. “Yeah. I lied a lot.”

“Why?”

Gabriel looked at the other end of the room. Jack was leaning against the edge of the window, standing with his arms crossed and his stupid visor and mask on. The only thing keeping him from jumping out of bed and ripping those things off Jack’s face was his sore knee. And the fact that Gabriel was sincerely tired and resigned to the fact that, trapped as he was, he wouldn’t be able to avoid the following conversation. “I don’t know,” he lied. Foolishly.

“That’s a lie,” Jack called him out, just like Gabriel knew he would. He saw him hesitantly lift a hand to his face and then slowly remove his mask and visor until his face was bare. Lips pursed, he was the perfect picture of disapproval. As always.

“Fine. I didn’t trust you with what was going on.” The words tumbled out of his mouth before Gabriel could think about their weight and once they were out, there was no turning back. Jack’s face instantly fell, going from its stoic mask for a grimace of sadness. Gabriel tried very, very hard not to feel guilty, but he always had trouble watching Jack showcase pain on his face only to quickly snuff it out.

“Why?” Jack asked, breathing heavily, covering his mouth with a hand for a moment. He was upset. “Why didn’t you trust me? I spent my entire adult life making sure I had your back.”

Feeling defensive and raw in the face of Jack’s obvious pain, Gabriel turned away from him. “You wouldn’t have understood, Jack. You had too much on your plate, you were falling apart.”

“And yet you still left me.”

Not once, but twice. The first time, Gabriel walked into their bedroom, stood near a window as Jack sat on their bed of many years, called it quits and left his wedding band on Jack’s bedside table before retiring to his new headquarters. The second time, he gave Jack a choice and Jack decided to turn his back on him. This last thought still made Gabriel’s blood boil and gave him the strength to push back angrily at Jack’s accusations. Focusing on his own pain helped him forget about Jack’s hunched shoulders, downturned lips and the angry scars crisscrossing his face.

“I couldn’t be with you anymore,” Gabriel spat, not without anger. “Not with so many secrets. Not with you breathing down my neck anxiously, making me eat my vegetables, nagging me about my medical checkups, constantly asking me what was going on. And there was the fact of my body decaying… and a pest was growing inside our organization.”

 _Don’t look at him_ , he found himself thinking. By the time he was brave enough to chance a look at Jack, he was too busy staring at the moon. “We loved each other, Gabe,” Jack said, resting his forehead against the cool surface of the window.

 _Classic Jack_ , Gabriel mused, anger still simmering inside his chest. “We were _poisoning_ each other.”

“You want to know what I think, Gabe?”

Finally, Jack raised his head, supporting himself with a hand on the window. His cheeks were flushed with anger and his eyes shone within the darkness in the cabin, thanks to the stars littering the clear sky through the open window. “I think you took the easy way out— I think you kept silent because you convinced yourself that you were protecting me. But you didn’t want me to hold you back. You wanted to make sure I didn’t get in your way.”

“Jack—”

“I gave twenty-five years of my life to this marriage. You don’t think I know you?” Jack angrily spat.

“You couldn’t have helped. You didn’t have what it takes to make the choices I made!” Gabriel snarled, grabbing fistfuls of the duvet, claws tearing holes into the fabric as he clenched his fingers in anger. Jack huffed at the sight of it, used to the physical language and manifestations of Gabriel’s anger.

“Maybe. I guess we’ll never know, because you decided for the both of us,” Jack sarcastically said, tone unflinching and merciless. A knot formed inside Gabriel’s throat. He felt like a caricature of a bull, only seeing red, expelling steam from his ears.

“You're so busy playing the victim that you can't even see in front of your own nose, can you?” Gabriel snarled. He knew, deep down, that he was being unfair— he knew that the accusation wasn’t even remotely true. But he felt raw and frustrated, hated feeling cornered. Gabriel felt like his anger was going to swallow him and spit him out whole. “Cut it the fuck out. You were the one who decided to give up. You were the one who refused to follow me. I asked you, Jack. I asked you to come with me and take down Talon.”

Jack stood very, very still.

“You grew soft,” Gabriel sentenced.

Then, Jack, who probably got tired of yelling back at him, sat carefully, slumped like an old man, staring at the scars on his palms. “Look,” Jack rasped, looking ashamed, his face open with vulnerability. “I don't know what else to tell you. I don't know how to explain to you that when you left, you took everything with you.”

“What.”

“There was _nothing_ left. And I don't— I didn't know what to do. Without you. I wanted a life with you. I wanted to be selfish. I wanted you back. You meant the world to me.”

That wasn’t something that Gabriel expected. At all.

“I didn’t know you felt like that.” Hesitantly, Gabriel dared to speak again. “We both made some... poor decisions. I just couldn't see any other alternatives, not back then.”

“I wanted to follow you,” Jack croaked, voice hoarse with restrained emotion. “God knows I was willing to take the public blame, the scrutiny for you. And I did. But you wouldn't let me follow you, Gabe. It felt like I was staring at your back as you walked further and further away from me.”

All the cards were on the table now, and it was time for Gabriel to make his move. He could leave things like this, step back from the conversation, keep the open vulnerability of Jack and his honesty. He could walk away with the winning hand, knowing that Jack opened himself to him and delivered to him all his regrets and sadness.

Or he could stay in the game. Be honest.

It had been a long time since Gabriel Reyes felt like a brave man.

“I didn't want to turn away, Jack. I missed you so much, back then. I still miss you.”

He saw the moment Jack decided to take the leap. He knew it in his bones, knew it in the way the walls carefully built around Jack crumbled and turned into dust, in the openness of his earnest eyes and the way Jack’s whole face softened with a _maybe_. Thirty years of loving someone did that to you: it exposed the other person to you on a visceral level, until one began where the other ended. Until Gabriel had made a home between Jack’s ribs, nestled in his steady heartbeat and had allowed Jack to keep him there and shelter him from every storm they ever faced together. Because that’s what Gabriel did, that’s the only way he knew how to love: he made himself into a parasite and took and took and _took_.

At some point, Jack grew tired, his knees buckled, his hair turned grey and his eyes went sad. Gabriel was left wondering, then. How did someone repay that amount of dedication? And, as he stretched his arm and offered a bare palm to Jack, he knew. What he had to do.

Jack took his hand silently, at first. His fingers were shaking and his skin was clammy and pale. “I missed you too. Miss you,” Jack said, like he had been dying to let that out. Like he had been waiting for an opening, for a chance to say how much he had been missing Gabriel, for Gabriel to lower his defenses and open his heart to him again. It made Gabriel’s chest ache with nostalgia, unprepared for the full weight of Jack’s earnestness. Gabriel pulled gently, until Jack was into his space and they were both sitting on the bed. He pulled again and, hesitantly, Jack leaned forward and Gabriel let go of his hand. He ran his hand down Jack’s cheekbone, then grabbed him by the chin, burying his fingers in Jack’s soft beard.

 

 

[X](https://i.imgur.com/imZOysu.png)

“You look good,” he mused out loud. A small, awkward smile bloomed on Jack’s face. Gabriel watched as he took off his gloves and then lifted his hands to cradle his face gently.

“I can’t see well without the visor and I don’t remember where I left my glasses,” Jack explained. “You’re going to have to get closer if you want me to see you properly.”

“Funny,” Gabriel smirked. “I don’t think I believe you.”

“Oh?” Jack arched an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Gabriel whispered. The smirk vanished as he got closer to Jack’s face, close enough to feel his breathing. Heart beating wildly, he buried a hand in Jack’s silver hair and dragged him towards him in a nervous kiss. Time seemed to stop as soon as their lips met, making Gabriel feel like he was in his early twenties again, cornering a young Jack against the bark of a tree for a kiss. They weren’t SEP soldiers anymore, they weren’t the young, hopeful men who clumsily held hands and jumped each other at any chance for a kiss. _And yet_. And yet, Gabriel felt like they were back to that point of their life, back to that time in their youth when butterflies fluttered in his stomach every time he saw Jack smile.

Jack’s skin got warmer and warmer under his touch. When they parted for air, his cheeks were flushed in a way that made him look endearing. His eyes weren’t clearly focused and his lips were slightly parted with a question at the tip of his tongue. Gabriel stared at him, memorizing his husband’s face, fingers coming to grasp one of Jack’s hips. “May I?” He asked, swallowing nervously. Jack remained quiet and, for a beat, Gabriel thought that he had crossed a line there and he closed his eyes as Jack moved, bracing for rejection. When he opened them again he was surprised to find Jack taking off his shirt instead, then removing his pants and his underwear with ease, to Gabriel’s utter astonishment. Finally, Jack stood naked in front of him, body marked with a map of scars, old and new, arching an eyebrow in the face of Gabriel’s gaping expression. He shrugged, grabbing Gabriel by the shoulders and then comfortably sitting on his lap.

“Wow,” Gabriel eloquently said. Jack snorted, mocking his poor attempt at deadpan and cradled Gabriel’s face once again. He watched him with unfocused eyes, thumbing a cheek, gently touching the edge of his beard. Then, Jack tilted his head and leaned forward, capturing Gabriel into a hungrier kiss than the previous one. As Jack kissed him, as he poured all his need and desire into Gabriel, something snapped inside him. Something long buried and tender. Something human. He grabbed Jack's waist, holding him firmly in place, and pressed him flush against his chest, drawing a soft moan from Jack's mouth, hot and familiar against Gabriel's. Heat quickly pooled in his belly, cock starting to harden between his legs. Jack sensed this and chose to grind hard against Gabriel’s groin, equally aroused. Gabriel went for his throat then, pressing little desperate kisses and nips, wanting to mark all that bare skin, wanting to leave an imprint of himself all over Jack, so he’d never be able to forget him. He felt Jack’s fingers tighten around the meat of his shoulders, his body shaking with small tremors of anticipation and it only made things better, to know that Jack wanted this as badly as he did.

Because Gabriel wanted this. Even if he spent years denying it, he’d never stop wanting Jack. He’d never stop craving Jack’s love, or his companionship or the way he fit Gabriel so perfectly. Even in anger, Gabriel had needed Jack. He just had been too stubborn to go and seek something that had been so freely offered to him.

“It’s been a lifetime,” Gabriel softly whispered against Jack’s throat, planning to leave a bruise there. “Since we were like this. I can’t even remember the last time I fucked you.”

“Well,” Jack rasped, voice breathy with need, his flushed chest rising and falling with accelerated speed under Gabriel’s hand. “That’s romantic.”

In response Gabriel squeezed one of Jack's pecs, forcing a pitiful, sweet noise out of him. Jack let his forehead fall on Gabriel's shoulder, shivering and moaning as Gabriel thumbed his nipple and took his time paying attention to his chest. “You like that?” He asked, a smile on his face.

Jack nodded silently, pressing a kiss against the crook of Gabriel’s neck. Gabriel decided to reward Jack’s eagerness by wrapping his fingers around Jack’s cock and starting to pump softly, taking a moment to thumb the slit.

“Yeah,” Jack groaned, shaky and clumsy hands fumbling with Gabriel’s belts, trying to help him with his pants. “Yeah, just like that. C’mon, c’mon—”

A loud gasp left Jack’s lips as he finished opening Gabriel’s pants. He palmed Gabriel’s cock with the eagerness that came from wanting to repay a partner with the same amount of pleasure previously given by them, something very typical of Jack. He was many things, but he had never been a selfish lover. Gabriel had always appreciated that about him.

“Gabe,” Jack sighed, his rough fingers stroking Gabriel’s hard length shakily. “Gabe,” he said again. Gabriel hummed, sucking on the skin of Jack’s collarbone.

“Mmm?”

Jack’s head rose again, pressing a kiss against Gabriel’s temple, then leaning closer to his ear. “I need you,” he said, calmly, voice tight with want. “ _Please_.”

A dam broke in Gabriel, brain short-circuiting with need, hands running and scratching down the muscle of Jack’s inner thighs. “Do you?” He teased. Jack made a frustrated noise, reaching for his discarded clothes at the end of the bed. He grabbed a biotic field, clumsily took the lid off, coated his fingers with the slick liquid and then went to jerk Gabriel off again, firmly wrapping his fingers around his erection and stroking him at a faster pace now, breathing heavily. Gabriel threw his head back, moaning loudly, eyes closed. He allowed himself to enjoy the attention for a brief moment, not doing anything else, letting Jack play him like a fiddle, heart clenching at the knowledge of Jack being aware of everything Gabriel wanted and liked. Even after so many years spent apart.

He slickened his fingers with the biotic liquid, shaking his head at the idea of using it as lube. He patted Jack’s thigh affectionately (surprising himself a little with the fondness that he felt), asking for permission. Jack squinted at him, probably trying to decipher Gabriel’s expression with his poor eyesight, then tilted his head for a kiss. That was all the approval Gabriel needed before pushing one well-lubed finger into Jack, smiling at Jack’s happy sigh.

“You know I can take more than that, right?” Jack shot him a crooked smile and a flirtatious look. Heart pounding with excitement, Gabriel jumped at the chance of _wrecking_ him. He added another finger, stretching Jack open until he was arching his back, lips parted into something silently blasphemous.

He was interrupted by Jack grabbing his wrist and stopping him from moving his hand. “What?” Gabriel asked, frowning with confusion. Jack shook his head.

“If you keep it up, I’m going to come.”

“So?”

“I don’t want to come yet,” Jack patiently answered and, finally, Gabriel understood. He went hot with want and enthusiasm, pulling his fingers out. Jack laughed. “You should see the look on your face right now.”

“You should see _yourself_ right now,” he saw Jack roll his eyes and avoid his face, flushing from the tip of his ears to his chest, just the way Gabriel remembered it. He held himself in his hand, getting more comfortable between Jack’s legs. Jack helped by lifting his body enough for Gabriel to comfortably grab him by the hips and push into him smoothly, sinking into Jack’s heat with a deep groan. His cock throbbed as Jack immediately clenched around him and Gabriel pressed his forehead against his, willing himself to calm down. Jack ran a hand down the fuzz of his head softly. He rubbed the spot behind Gabriel’s ears, having to close his eyes and bite his tongue to avoid tearing up.

“You good?” Jack asked.

“Just peachy,” Gabriel answered, with a fake laugh to dispel the emotional rollercoaster that threatened to take hold of him. He lowered his head, pressing his lips against the pulse of Jack’s neck, and started to fuck into him at a slow-moving pace. Jack held onto him tightly, hugging Gabriel by the shoulders, his mouth hanging slightly open near Gabriel’s temple. It was so fucking good it made Gabriel want to stay that way forever. Made him want to cry for all the time they wasted. For every time he walked away. For every time that the rift between them grew and every time they didn’t try to fix it.

“I don’t want to break the mood,” Jack panted in his ear, a smile on his face. Gabriel could hear it: he had memorized all the ways Jack laughed. “But I’m getting a bit tired. Wanna lay down on the bed?”

“Yeah, I was waiting for you to ask,” Gabriel grinned. He rested a hand on the small of Jack’s back, feeling muscle and scar tissue. He laid Jack on the bed carefully, with enough sense to still think of his knee. Jack raised an eyebrow at him, then lifted himself up and reached for Gabriel, grabbing him by the back of the neck.

“I want a kiss.”

“God damn it you’re still the bitchiest loser I’ve ever fucked,” Gabriel said, leaning over Jack to press a kiss against his lips. He closed his eyes and felt the touch of Jack’s hand on his cheek, just… touching him gently. Almost gingerly. “I missed that about you. Being bitchy, I mean.”

“You sure you aren’t talking about yourself?” Jack quipped back, voice rougher than usual thanks to arousal. Gabriel shut him up by firmly holding him by the hips and pushing into him painfully slowly, bordering on teasing. He watched Jack close his eyes and throw back his head with a quiet whimper and a curse. Felt as Jack got his legs around him and held onto Gabriel fiercely, forcing him to go deeper. He pulled back with a grin and Jack wrapped his arms around Gabriel’s back, digging his nails into the skin every time Gabriel thrust into his body.

They moved together with ease, and not for the first time, Gabriel wished that talking were as easy as sex: there wasn’t anything difficult about sinking into Jack again and again, there wasn’t anything difficult about the way Jack hugged him tightly and whispered his name. There wasn’t anything difficult about understanding all the things Jack’s eyes said for him, even clouded as they were now. And something in Gabriel’s heart felt close to an explosion when Jack stared at him through hooded eyes and tilted his head to the side, exposing his neck to him. Gabriel rested a hand there, just above Jack’s windpipe, breathless, his cock throbbing inside of Jack.

Jack said _please._  With his eyes. With his words. Gabriel couldn’t remember which one it was, but he pressed his fingers against Jack’s neck, feeling strong muscle and rough skin. He gave himself a moment to trace the scar that crossed the front of Jack’s neck, then squeezed until Jack’s face was red and tears pooled in his eyes. Gabriel squeezed a bit harder and then chose to back off for a brief moment before trying again, his grip on Jack’s neck tightening more with each time he repeated the action. Every time he stopped, he gave Jack time enough to suck another breath before going back again until Jack couldn’t do more than pant as he fought himself _not to fight_ Gabriel for air. The rhythm of Gabriel's squeezes went in direct counterpoint to his thrusts, and every time he pushed into Jack, he relaxed his hand. He took in Jack’s flushed skin, how it got redder and redder, how Jack’s heart pounded so loudly against his generous chest. Jack’s eyes were still teary but when Gabriel looked at them all he could find was trust and affection. All he could see was love instead of fear. It almost made him want to stop and hide. Here was Jack, Gabriel realized, bare and exposed before him, pliant beneath his body. Trusting, as always.

Gabriel started to shake in the face of that realization. Humbled, as he came to terms with the fact that Jack would do anything for him.

“Ssh. I got you,” he said, softer than intended, eyes never leaving Jack’s face, watching as Jack closed his eyes again and just-- surrendered himself to him. To Gabriel.

He couldn’t take it anymore.

Gabriel hid his face in Jack’s shoulder. He wrapped his fingers around Jack’s cock, jerking him once, twice, until Jack spilled between their bellies. He clenched around Gabriel, making himself impossibly tight. Gabriel sobbed into Jack’s shoulder and rolled his hips roughly, thrusting into him again and again until he came. He spilled into Jack with a groan, pressing a kiss against hot, sweaty skin.

They were hugging, by the end. Shaking, sweaty and exhausted. His shoulder was wet with Jack’s tears. Hell, Gabriel’s own face was wet with tears. Jack rose to a sitting position and pushed him softly, until Gabriel was the one resting on his back, still trying to catch his breath. Jack carefully slipped off his body, come dripping down the inside of his thighs. As Gabriel dozed off, he felt like floating, hearing the distant noise of Jack moving around the room. He felt a wet rag cleaning him, then a warm body curling up to his side. Finally, a gentle kiss on his cheek.

Then, nothing.

 

**

 

Gabriel woke up to the sound of frantic knocking and Jack groaning as he untangled himself from his side and got up in order to get dressed and answer the door. “Coming!” He heard Jack grumpily groan. The knocking didn’t stop, only getting louder and louder until he heard the screeching sound the door made every time it opened.

“What is it?” Jack’s voice asked, talking to whoever had come to the cabin. Soon, all he heard were frantic whispering.

Gabriel didn’t move, choosing to listen from the bed, slowly flexing his leg. His knee was working properly again. Once he heard the door close, he started to get dressed as fast as possible.

“Talon is here,” Jack somberly announced. “For you. I’m going to assume that your cover has been blown, because I’ve been just told by one of the fighters that they have taken the village hostage and they’ll kill everyone if you aren’t delivered back to Talon. Dead or alive.”

“Fuck,” Gabriel spat. “Someone must have seen me covering you from that shot.”

“Yeah,” Jack sighed, frustration evident on his face. “Okay. C’mon, give me your coat.”

“What.”

“I don’t have all day,” Jack said, offering his hand to Gabriel. “Give it to me.”

“What do you want it _for_?”

“To create a distraction,” Jack explained. As soon as Gabriel handed him his coat, Jack put it on. He looked ridiculous in it.

He also looked ridiculously _good_. It made Gabriel feel kind of horny.

“Get that intel you recovered out of here,” Jack went for his rifle as he talked to him, then handed Gabriel his shotguns and the Seventy-Six jacket. “Do you have a way out?”

“Yeah,” Gabriel nodded. “I just need to contact Sombra, she’ll get it in a blink. It’s been waiting for me since I got here.”

“Good.”

He put on the leather jacket, thinking that it had been a long, long while since he had used Jack’s clothes. It used to happen all the time when they were younger. Jack would steal one of his hoodies and Gabriel would get back at him by wearing one of his nerdy shirts. It all had been a ruse, they had just wanted to carry little pieces of the other wherever they went. They used to be like that.

They used to be a lot of things.

Once Gabriel was done with putting on his gear and securing his guns, he was ready to go and leave the cabin behind him. Or he thought he was, until he threw one last glance at the messy, unmade bed and remembered the way Jack had made him feel last night. His heart did a weird somersault, threatening to jump out of his chest.

“Gabe,” Jack called out to him, making Gabriel snap out of his thoughts. He didn’t have his visor or his mask on and Gabriel realized that Jack would have to wear the Reaper mask. Something about that settled uneasily in his stomach.

He waited for Jack to speak again.

“I know that… whatever happened between us last night doesn’t fix years of miscommunication, anger and hurt,” Jack hesitantly spoke. “I’m not that naïve anymore. Neither are you, although, I don’t think you were ever naïve,” Jack laughed softly, barely. It was an awkward, rough sound. “But, I wanted you to know… it meant something. Something important to me. Losing you was devastating and not being able to properly mourn you, to sit shiva for you, only made me grieve for you harder. Like I said, I’ve loved you my entire adult life. I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone before you and I don’t think it will be possible for me to ever love anyone else. So, that’s it. That’s it for me. You made me happy, while it lasted. We had a good life. And I was…”

“Happy,” Gabriel interjected, an invisible hand squeezing his heart.

“Yeah,” Jack croaked, with red-rimmed eyes. “I love you.”

“I know,” Gabriel answered, immediately feeling mortified. _Did you just Han Solo your ex-husband?_

To his surprise, Jack laughed, loud and bright. He regaled Gabriel with a real, big smile and proceeded to salute him. “It was an honor to serve by your side, Soldier 24.” 

 

 

 

 

[X](https://i.imgur.com/TQ3eZOI.png) [X](https://i.imgur.com/ptMGsAJ.png)

Jack was out of the door before Gabriel could answer, frozen as he stood on the spot, a thousand words on the tip of his tongue.

Just like that, it was over.

And Gabriel _ran_. He ran towards the mountains, to the desolate area where Sombra had hidden the hover car. She had given the coordinates to Gabriel as soon as she had secured his transport. Gabriel had the intel, his mission had been a success and he would leave La Paz behind for good. Soon enough he’d be able to craft the plan that would bring Talon down and get his revenge on Moira, who would probably have a stroke as soon as she found out that Gabriel had stolen her research and more. Gabriel had gotten away with everything he had wanted to accomplish for this mission, even if his cover at Talon had been blown.

There was a second, as Gabriel exited the village and approached the site of his transport, where he had _wondered_. Had Doomfist found out or had he acted on mere suspicion, as he always wanted to do when it came to Reaper? Had the sniper who had shot him and Jack been Amélie? How many goons had Talon sent after him?

… How many people would the fighters have to fight once it was discovered that the one wearing the Reaper mask was Jack and not him?

And that was when it _clicked_. That was when Gabriel looked back and actually thought about Jack’s goodbye. _It was an honor to serve by your side, Soldier 24._

“Motherfucker!” Gabriel cursed, not knowing if he was insulting himself or Jack. He made a complete turn, running back to the village as fast as he could, but still slower than normal as his nanites weren't completely stabilized from healing yet. He could hear the sounds of shooting and shouting, could smell the gunpowder and smoke in the air. People started to run as far as possible from the village, trying to escape the massacre. Gabriel had to push his way among them, trying to make his way through the panicked crowd. He caught a glimpse of the roof of the cabin where he'd spent the past few days over the sea of people, when suddenly the earth shook and a terrible booming noise rocked through the air, setting everything on fire.

A bomb.

A fucking bomb.

Someone screamed. An angry, devastated noise. It took him a moment to realize that it was him. He was the one shouting.

Gabriel wasn’t ready to say goodbye. He wasn’t ready to leave Jack behind. He had already done it once, for revenge. Turned his back on him in anger, blinded by his own pain and his inability to see beyond his own feelings.

He had lost Jack, once, twice, thrice. And yet, just last night, Jack had opened his arms to him, despite his anger. Despite the pain. Despite all the years of hurt that Gabriel had given him.

Gabriel had to find him. He had to tell Jack. He had to tell him that—

There, on the ground, a black lump lay, next to the charred remains of a car. Gabriel recognized his own coat as he ran towards the figure. _No, no, no, no!_

With a gentleness Gabriel had almost forgotten he had, he cradled Jack’s badly burned and wounded body. He was maskless, brow and nose covered with blood, mouth slack. Just like the rest of him. Jack looked almost peaceful.

“Fucker,” Gabriel sniffled, gently holding Jack’s head by his nape. “You had to go and play hero. This is all your fault.”

He held Jack against his chest, trying not to hyperventilate. Soon, he was choking on air and his heart beat so violently Gabriel felt like it was going to burst. Cold dread ran down his back every time he looked at Jack’s pale face. Every time he thought about not seeing him or hearing him again. Every time he thought about the broken promises and the future Gabriel left behind with him. And that did it, that was the cruelest thing about it all: that they never got what they wanted. No matter how much they had given up. No matter how much they had tried. Things had crumbled into dust between them and now there was no way of fixing them. Because Jack was gone and they had run out of choices.

As Gabriel wept and screamed and cursed, that’s when he remembered a similar scene: him, bloodied and woozy, feeling his life slip through his fingers as Jack pleaded and cried for him to stay. Gabriel had always been the one to leave Jack behind.

“I can’t,” Gabriel trembled, his grip on Jack’s body tightening. “I can’t do this. I can’t, I can’t, I can’t.”

He lowered his head, closed his eyes and let the tears fall, his whole face twisted into one big testament of pain. Gabriel opened the chest where he carefully had stored his heart all those years ago and dared to look inside. Everything else around him just… vanished.

“Hey,” a low, rough voice called out to him. It took Gabriel a moment to stop crying. Until he realized that Jack was, in fact, _still alive_.

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Jack smiled, eyes barely open. With some effort, he patted Gabriel’s chest lovingly. “Old soldiers are hard to kill, you know?”

“Oh, thank fucking god,” Gabriel breathed then laughed, feeling himself slip towards the edges of hysteria. “I’m so glad you’re alive, you annoying pest.”

“Your pest,” Jack slurred. Gabriel could hear the triumph in his voice. Fucking Jack.

“Yeah. Mine,” Gabriel said, already feeling emotionally exhausted. He heard Jack say something about help coming to get them. If he squinted he could see, far away, a group of people and a big mecha approaching. They were going to be okay.

“Gabe?”

“Yeah?”

“Will you stay?”

“... Yeah.”

With his home between his arms and his eyes on the horizon, Gabriel Reyes felt like a brave man again.

 

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this fic and you’d like to say hi, you can find me [here](https://twitter.com/foldingcranes) and here [here](http://foldingcranes.tumblr.com/).
> 
>  
> 
> [Fish’s art post.](https://fishlimbed.tumblr.com/post/176626364109/heres-my-entry-for-the-2018-reaper76bigbang-i)  
> [Tactical Booty’s art post.](https://tacticl-booty.tumblr.com/post/176635265830/my-comic-for-kasis-reaper76bigbang-fic)


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